EV and battery thread, page-912

I read an article in Handelsblatt with quotes from the head of VW's battery division. He said that the company would take stakes in up to a handful of Canadian mines for battery raw materials (didn't refer to any specific metals) and aims to get a certain percentage of the mines production for a fixed price (he mentioned 20 - 30 % of total mine production). Am I right assuming that currently nobody is producing lithium spodumene in Canada at a commercial scale!?
What I am sceptical about is the idea that in the case of lithium, a car maker could buy a stake and get output for a fixed price. Imho they need to buy an entire producer, something which Thomas Schmall the head of VW's battery division doesn't want to do. It may work with Nickel, Copper and Cobalt but will be hard with lithium.
Mercedes-Benz wants to work together with Rock Tech Lithium a Canada / Germany based company that wants to mine in Canada and convert in Germany to deliver 10K tons of lithium hydroxide per year to Mercedes-Benz starting in 2026.

VW: Autobauer will ins Minengeschäft einsteigen (handelsblatt.com)